


This is Not a Christmas Fic

by sconesandtextingandmurder



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Christmas, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, domestic AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 18:05:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9135349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sconesandtextingandmurder/pseuds/sconesandtextingandmurder
Summary: It starts with a mix-up in the dairy aisle.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the delightful Kayanem for the [Down to Agincourt](http://archiveofourown.org/series/110651) book club Secret Santa!

It starts with a mix-up in the dairy aisle.

Cas is unloading the groceries from the cart onto the conveyor belt when he notices it. He double checks then holds up the quart. “This is eggnog, not the coffee creamer you wanted.”

Dean leans in for a closer look. “Huh. Guess so. They look the same.” He jerks a thumb in the direction of the dairy department. “I’ll go get some.”

Cas holds out the eggnog for him to return.

“Nah, keep it.”

Cas squints at it. With Cas in graduate school, Dean’s bringing home the only income. That means there’s not a lot of wiggle room in the grocery budget, and eggnog isn’t exactly cheap. Plus, it’s an odd choice for Dean who had declared himself a “Grinch” this season, a role he seems committed to if the way he’s been bitching about the non-stop Christmas music for weeks is any indication. In the off-chance Cas forgot, he saw Dean thoroughly roll his eyes at the holiday scene painted on the store window when they walked in.

Dean’s disgust with all things Christmas this year is due to the fact that Sam is unable to come home from Stanford for the holiday. At Dean’s insistence, they’ve decided to put off celebrating until all three of them can be together.

Nevertheless, back in their apartment, Dean puts the two cartons in the fridge, side by side.

The next morning, when Cas staggers to the kitchen still in pajamas, Dean pours them both mugs of coffee. He presses one into Cas’s hands and kisses the top of his head. “Morning, sunshine.”

Cas makes a noise somewhere between a hum and grunt as he lifts the mug to his mouth. The first swallow is hot and good and…surprisingly sweet. He takes another sip and looks questioningly at Dean. “What’s in here?”

“What do you mean?” Dean peers into his own mug in confusion before tasting his. “Oh, I mixed them up again. I put the eggnog in instead of the cream.” He reaches for Cas’s cup. “I can fix it.”

Cas shakes his head, reluctant to relinquish the coffee. “No, it’s fine. I just wasn’t expecting it.”

Dean takes another drink of his. “Yeah, it’s actually not bad this way.”

*

When Cas texts Dean asking him to stop at the store and get triple A batteries for his calculator, Dean comes home with a bigger bag than necessary.  “I picked up some of those dumb gingersnaps you like. They had them displayed by the register,” he adds in case Cas got the false idea that he went out of his way to find them.

“Thank you, Dean.” Cas reaches for the bag. He pulls out the batteries and then the box of cookies. “Um.”

Dean looks up to see the problem.

“These aren’t cookies. This is a gingerbread house kit.”

If Cas isn’t mistaken, Dean doesn’t look completely surprised. “Huh. Guess that’s why it was on special display.”

Cas turns the empty brown bag over, but no receipt falls out.

Dean runs a hand through his hair. “I only got two things so I didn’t keep it.” He picks up the box and looks at the instructions on the back. “This doesn’t look too difficult to put together. Maybe we can work on it tonight.”

After literally using the phrase ‘Christmas is dead to me’ earlier this month, Dean Winchester is now voluntarily offering to put together a gingerbread house. Cas should say something here, he’s just not sure what. “Ok?” he ventures.

“I mean, since we already have it. No use letting it go to waste.”

*

When they’ve cleaned up from dinner, Dean sets the box in the middle of the table. “Lemme get a cookie sheet to put this on.” When he gets back to the table he’s also holding a bottle of rum. “Since we need to use up that eggnog, anyways.”

“Good thinking,” Cas assures him, going to get two glasses and the eggnog from the refrigerator.

Dean doctors the eggnog heavily with rum and they begin to work on the gingerbread house. The kit has everything they need: pre-baked gingerbread, a bag of frosting with a decorator tip, and a nice selection of candy. They get the walls and roof glued together with frosting, and there’s only a little swearing when one wall topples over and splits with a long, jagged crack. They’re getting ready to mix another round of drinks while they wait for the frosting to set when Cas’s phone buzzes.

He checks it then gets quickly to his feet and moves toward their bedroom. “That’s Inais asking me about an assignment. Let me go get the info he needs.”

 _I can’t really talk now_ he replies in the safety of the bedroom.

**Dean’s there?**

_Yes._

**Call me when you can talk privately.**

Cas glances toward the bedroom door. _That will probably be tomorrow_.

**Ok**

Cas sits in the empty bedroom for a minute or two more before rejoining Dean.

“All good?” he asks, while handing him a fresh drink.

Cas doesn’t like lying to Dean, but he does it anyhow. “Yes. Now, where were we.”

Dean passes him a tree-shaped cookie and the tube of frosting. “Snow only. This is a winter wonderland, not Christmas.”

Cas holds up a bag of colorful round candies. “No lights?”

“Nope.”

“Not ev—“

Dean bites the head off a Santa cookie for emphasis. “Nope.”

*

Dean’s personal war on Christmas continues the next day when he stomps in swearing.

Cas looks up from his laptop in concern. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s so much debris on the roads from the storm last night. I ended up running over a big branch.”

This can’t be good. All Dean needs is something bad happening to his Baby when the holiday already has him stressed. “Is the car damaged?”

“I took a quick look and it seems fine but…” he holds up a finger and ducks back out into the hallway before coming back in with a piece of pine tree about three feet long. “I had to pull this out from underneath.”

“And no damage? That was lucky.”

“Yeah,” Dean agrees, wiping his hand across his mouth. “What should I do with it?”

“With the piece of tree you ran over in your car?” Cas clarifies.

“Yeah.”

Cas does his best to look thoughtful. “Well. I suppose you could set it up there in the corner.”

“Yeah, I mean. Otherwise somebody else might hit it.”

“That’s very considerate of you.” Cas keeps his mouth shut about the fact that the little not-tree stands perfectly evenly on the floor.

Dean straightens up, fluffing the branches a little first. “How do you feel about pasta for dinner?”

*

The next day is Christmas Eve.  By the time Cas get home in the late afternoon, fat, fluffy snowflakes have begun to fall. His phone buzzes just as he’s shaking the snow out of his hair and stomping it off his shoes in the apartment lobby.

**You didn’t tell him did you?**

_No. But I don’t like keeping things from him._

**How’s he doing?**

Cas considers how to answer.   _Stubborn and mildly exasperating._

**So, the usual then? :)**

_I suppose so._  :) He glances back outside at the snow coming down. _It’s snowing here. Let me know if anything changes on your end._

He tucks his phone back in his pocket and unlocks their mailbox where he finds a slip and the key to the package locker. Inside the package locker is a box with Gabriel’s return address on it. Cas stacks the rest of the mail on top of the box, smiling at his brother’s uncanny ability to get gifts to him at the very last possible moment.

Dean is already home when he comes inside carrying it. “What’s that?”

“Present from Gabriel.” Cas sets everything down on the coffee table and kisses Dean hello.

“His was the first to arrive?”

Cas deliberately walks into the kitchen before answering. “No. Packages came from Anna and my mother earlier, but I put them out of sight.”

Dean follows him into the kitchen and leans against the door frame. He chews his lip for a moment and Cas can practically hear him thinking before he finally speaks. “I’m being a big baby about this no Christmas thing, aren’t I?”

Cas sighs. “Look, I get that it’s not the same without Sam here but…” he gestures around the apartment at the gingerbread house and the not-tree that is now not-decorated with candy canes. (Dean had come home with them saying a cute little girl was selling them for a school fundraiser so he felt obligated to buy them and oh the box got wet in the rain so probably they should come out hey what about putting them on these branches to dry.) “I’m getting a bit of a mixed message.”

Dean runs a hand through his hair. “I’m being stupid. It’s still Christmas whether Sam’s here or not, and you shouldn’t have to hide your things.”

Cas smiles at him. “I’m sure there are presents in there for you, too.”

Dean raises an eyebrow. “You think Naomi sent me something? Matching Christmas pajamas for us?”

Cas outright laughs at that. “Ok, maybe not my mother. But Gabe and Anna.” He crosses to the hall closet and digs around in the back. Pulling out the other two packages, he arranges all of them under the tree.

He turns to check for Dean’s reaction and finds him pale. “I uh, didn’t get you anything.”

Cas waves a dismissive hand at him. “I got you one thing but it’s not here yet, so don’t worry about it.”

“I could go out right now. Get us something to make a real Christmas meal.” Dean’s already reaching for his coat but Cas stops him with a hand on his arm.

“I don’t need any of that. It’s snowing and I just want to spend a quiet evening with you.”

“I’m sorry,” Dean says, pressing his forehead against Cas’s. “I really messed this up. Let me make it up to you.” Dean kisses him gently on the lips before stepping into the kitchen to rummage around in the cupboards. He emerges with a bag of microwave popcorn. “Go get your sewing kit. We’re decorating the tree.”

Sitting together on the couch with the bowl between them, they use needle and thread to string popcorn, eating the ones that break. When the garlands are done, Dean arranges them around the little tree then steps back to appraise it. “I wish we had some tinsel or something shiny.”

Cas is gone from the room before he finishes the sentence and returns with his big box of paperclips. Soon a silver chain of them is added to the tree.

Cas goes back to the kitchen. “We used to string fresh cranberries when I was growing up.”

“I am 100% sure we have no fresh cranberries.”

“No, but how about these?”

“You’re going to string dried apricots?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Dean,” Cas says with a disbelieving shake of his head. “I’m going to hang each one like an ornament.”

Dean’s laughter fills the apartment. “Oh, silly me. Of course you are.” He gets to his feet. “If we’re using fruit…” He digs around in his work bag and pulls out something brightly colored.

“Gummy worms do not count as fruit,” Cas says with a sigh.

“We’re gonna have to agree to disagree on that one.”

Cas smiles as Dean attempts to balance individual gummy worms on branches, the tip of his tongue poking out as he concentrates. 

All that’s missing is a topper. Cas digs a pizza box out of the recycling and cuts out a mostly even star. Dean covers it in tin foil and digs a set of paper-wrapped chopsticks from a drawer to duct tape to the back. All it takes is a couple of twist ties to hold it in place on the tree.

Cas puts an arm around Dean and they stand silently and regard their handiwork.

“That looks great,” Dean says with pride.

“We are so going to get ants,” Cas observes.

“That too,” Dean agrees. “Now how about dinner?”

Dean makes them tuna melts and then they watch Die Hard as the snow continues to fall. Dean lies with his head in Cas’s lap and Cas cards his fingers through his hair. He has to wake Dean up when the movie ends to send him to bed.

*

They’re awakened the next morning by the blare of the buzzer that means someone outside the building has pressed the doorbell for their apartment. Dean rolls over and groans at the sound, but Cas jumps out of bed.

“That must be your present. I’ll run down and get it.”

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Dean sits up and squints his phone. “A delivery on Christmas. At 7:25 in the morning.”

“Be right back,” Cas calls to him on his way out the door.

The lobby is deserted this early on a holiday and Sam stands at door with his backpack on his shoulder and his cheeks pink with the cold. Cas lets him in, ignoring the gust of chilly air to hug him.

“You made it!”

“I did! Not even a delay. He still doesn’t know?”

Cas shakes his head, grinning. “Nope. Let’s go surprise him.”

Dean’s just coming out of the bedroom when Cas unlocks the front door. He stops dead in his tracks when he sees his brother.

“What are you—” he says to Sam before looking at Cas. “How did you—”

Sam drops his backpack and crosses to him. “I think what you mean is Merry Christmas.”

(Those are definitely not tears in Cas’s eyes as he watches them embrace.)

With one hand still gripping Sam’s shoulder, Dean reaches for Cas as well. “You did this?”

Cas nods toward Sam. “We did this.”

“I can only stay through tomorrow night,” Sam apologizes, but Dean is having nothing of it.

“You’re here now. I can’t believe this.” He hugs them both some more.

“Dean?” Sam askes when his brother finally gives him enough room to breathe.

“Yeah, Sammy?”

“What the hell is going on with that tree?”

**Author's Note:**

> Special shout out to book club as a whole for being a bright spot in a miserable year. I love you all!


End file.
